Saturday, September 24, 2011

With Macy being born in November and Jazlyn in July, I didn't have too many opportunities for Jaz to wear Macy's outfits since they were born in different seasons. Luckily, now that it's cooled off, Jazlyn has gotten to wear a couple of them before they are too small. In looking at pictures of Macy, I decided that Macy smiled a lot earlier and I caught many more on camera! Both these pics were just after their 2 month birthdays.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Warning - this is a SUPER LONG post. Not a lot of writing, but a lot of pictures! It's hard to believe that two weeks ago, we were enjoying our last week of summer vacation (and maternity leave), trying to savor the last few days of freedom (and laziness) before we all had to get on a schedule.

It was an awesome summer and none of us were ready for it to end. It was so great to have all of us home for most of it. The kids got along great (most of the time) and were content to just "be." We didn't have a lot planned for the months of July and August (besides bonding with baby girl) and that's the way we liked it.

Here's a glimpse of the last week of vacation and school starting....

1. We took pictures. The kiddos coordinated for church and I whenever that happens, I like to graob the camera and sneak in a few pictures while they look so cute. Plus, I knew I wanted a new picture for my desk at work. I LOVE this picture!!

I love it that Jazlyn already understands that we have to SMILE in pictures (okay - it's actually a yawn). The big kids have trained her well already! :)

2. We took more pictures. Of baby in Grandma Brody's elephant ears. I wish we would have done this right away when she was born, but they weren't quite big enough. Still pretty cute.

3. We modeled hats that Aunt Heidi plans on selling on Etsy. (this first picture is on my desk at work too. She's staring right at me all morning!)

4. We got lots of new baby smiles. This one is especially for Grandma Barb.

5. All 7 of us went to the park. Curren got to take Jazlyn down her first slide (doesn't she look thrilled....)

6. We had movie night.

7. The big boys ran in the Denver Days 5K and improved their times. I think they were both happy. Kyle and I were happy the 5K just went smoothly, especially after we both overslept that morning (it was a late night getting ready for it!).

8. We watched the Denver Days parade and got way too much candy.

9. We watched the Denver Days parade and watched Grandpa Bill drive by, who just joined the PTOS with Kyle.

10. We took naps and snuggled with our baby girl.

11. We enjoyed the very last day at the Denver pool. It was a cool day, but that didn't stop the kiddos. They loved going there this summer.

Curren's buddy Tyler (they hung out A LOT this summer)

Next year you'll get to join them in the pool, sweetie.

Love this pic of my babe. This summer has treated him well!

Myles is REALLY into making funny faces. I have so many pictures like this!

The only time I shed a quick tear was watching Macy get on the bus. Time has gone SO quickly with my big girl!

14. I went back to work (part time). It was HARD but we survived. Jazlyn did awesome for Kyle and I was so busy at work that the time went really fast and I was back home with my baby girl.

15. We celebrated Kyle's 33rd birthday. He is such an awesome dad and I'm SO blessed that he gets to stay home with the kiddos. This is how he spent his day. We also went to HuHot that night. Hopefully he thought it was a good day.

16. We cheered on Curren at his first cross country meet. Unfortunately I don't have pictures because it was POURING rain for almost 3 hours. He did great, finishing second in just over 6 minutes. We are so excited to watch him run over the next 6 years. It was definitely a memorable way to start the season in the wet, muddy, rain!

17. I went kayaking with my sisters (see the post below!)

Thanks for sticking it out to the end. I'm just about caught up on blog posts for now. If you can't tell, life is GOOD right now!

One of the things I really wanted to do before I went back to work was to go kayaking. We've had kayaks for a couple years and I've only used them once. The first time was so relaxing and peaceful, I knew it was something I wanted to take advantage of one more time.

All along I thought this would be something I did with Kyle. He suggested that it would be fun to do with my sisters and he would watch the kids! He was awesome - got the kayaks cleaned up, bought us some snacks & drinks, and dropped us off and picked us up, and made us a steak dinner when we got home! In the middle of all that, he got to watch 11 kids (thanks for helping, Grandma Barb)! How great is my man!!!!

Before we got in the water...

The drop-off is near the "Unimproved" bridge (just west of Denver). This is one of my favorites places to take pictures, although we don't go there often.

Mom & Dad wanted to see us off too. (I wish we had more kayaks!)

Thanks, babe, for carrying my kayak!

And we're off!

It was peaceful and so much fun to hang out with Heidi and Lo (with no kids!). We definitely need to do this more often!! I think the cousins had a good time too. They love hanging out. This was while we were waiting to eat. Hilarious.